What should you know about excess skin growth?

Skin lumps can arise in the skin, a hair follicle, or tissue beneath the skin. A boil is often tender, warm, and red because infection and inflammation affect a follicle or nearby tissue. Other lumps may be soft, firm, mobile, or attached to deeper structures. A slow change is not automatically harmless, and a frightening appearance is not a diagnosis.

Basal cell carcinoma can appear as a pearly bump, a sore that does not heal, or a spot that bleeds or crusts repeatedly. A clinician may use magnification and, when needed, a biopsy to identify the tissue. Do not squeeze, cut, burn, or repeatedly pick at a growth.

Take a clear photograph beside a familiar object and note when the growth appeared, whether it changes, and any pain, bleeding, discharge, or triggers such as shaving. Arrange an examination for a persistent, enlarging, changing, or symptomatic lesion.

Treatment depends on the diagnosis. A boil may need medical drainage or prescribed treatment rather than home squeezing. Some inflamed or thickened lesions may be considered for an intralesional steroid injection, but this is done only after a clinician confirms the appropriate target. A suspected cancerous lesion needs a diagnostic plan, not cosmetic removal first.

Seek prompt medical care for rapid growth, repeated bleeding, a non-healing sore, a darkening or irregular lesion, severe pain, spreading redness, fever, or pus. Urgent care is appropriate for fever with rapidly spreading redness or swelling, or for swelling near the eye that affects vision. A new lump that remains should still be examined even without pain.

Ask what layer the lump seems to involve, whether it needs dermoscopy or biopsy, whether infection is present, which warning changes to monitor, and whether removal could interfere with diagnosis.